North Wilkesboro gave NASCAR fans exactly what they wanted, and they don't like it

Against all odds, the NASCAR Cup Series returned to North Wilkesboro Speedway for points-paying action for the first time since 1996 in Sunday night's Window World 450. An entire generation was introduced to one of the series' most historic venues, and it went exactly how anybody who was around 30 years ago could have told you it would go.

Joey Logano led 323 of 450 laps. There were only five caution flags, with just three for incident. The third stage went green for all 175 circuits after the final restart, and only six cars finished on the lead lap, with 11th-place Ryan Blaney coming home two laps down.

It's almost as if we took a time machine straight into the mid-1990s.

North Wilkesboro gives race fans a window into the past, for better or for worse

Nobody loves to pine for the good old days like NASCAR fans. Depending on who you ask, the sport died in either 2001 (with Dale Earnhardt), in 2004 (when the Chase for the Cup was introduced), or in 2007 (when Toyota and the Car of Tomorrow showed up).

But the 1990s, when there were about 12 competitive cars and one-third of the field DNF'd from mechanical problems every week? Now that was peak NASCAR.

You had good ol' boys and beer and cigarettes and iconic paint schemes and broadcasts that made every race feel special. There were no nepo babies. No watered-down corporately correct personalities. And no gimmicks.

Races and championships played out the way they were meant to play out, without "overtime" or "playoffs" or bunched-up double-file restarts. Wasn't it so wonderful?

Sure it was. At least, until it shows up in 2026.

The same people who are constantly wishing for more old-school short track racing were bored to death on Sunday night. And it's not as if the action was bad. There were multiple usable grooves. There were comers and goers throughout each run. Cars that were faster than the cars ahead of them could pass them.

There just weren't cautions every 25 laps and drivers stuffing each other in the fence and fighting on pit road, which fans expect to see at a track that size. If you never grew up with North Wilkesboro, you should probably know that outside of a few highlight reels, long green flag runs with very few lead lap cars was always the norm there.

North Wilkesboro is a racing purist's dream. Take it or leave it. But if you want the 1990s back, don't complain when that's exactly what you get.